seris or parrellell

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southernboys

Senior Member
Hey guys trying to see what applications I would find a series circuit parrellel circuit and series/parrellell circuit in my everyday work. In my understanding of these things most common is the series as in the application of receps in a room is this correct?
 

iwire

Moderator
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Location
Massachusetts
Re: seris or parrellell

Originally posted by southernboys:
Hey guys trying to see what applications I would find a series circuit parrellel circuit and series/parallel circuit in my everyday work. In my understanding of these things most common is the series as in the application of receps in a room is this correct?
For almost all our work 'loads' lights, receptacles, appliances, motors etc. are wired in parallel.

Controls, switches, dimmers, speed controls, fuses, breakers etc. are wired in series.

[ July 01, 2005, 09:22 PM: Message edited by: iwire ]
 

southernboys

Senior Member
Re: seris or parrellell

Bob Im going to show my ignorance here and Im already eating humble pie. So here it goes. In every diagram of series circuits it shows one power source in a continuious path. Now in parrllel there is more than one power source. Where am I missing the picture?
 

ryan_618

Senior Member
Re: seris or parrellell

Think about driving two ground rods. Lets say what is 100 Ohms, so you drive a second. Even if it 150 ohms, it will still have a total resistance of less the 100 ohms, because you are putting resistors in parellel. Does that help any?
 

bphgravity

Senior Member
Location
Florida
Re: seris or parrellell

Get yourself a schematic or line diagram from a range manufacturer. You will see a quite extensive series/parallel arrangement. This is how heat levels are obtained using a single voltage source. Different parts of the element are connected in various ways to obtain different wattage levels.
 

celtic

Senior Member
Location
NJ
Re: seris or parrellell

Here is a nice example:

threewaylight.jpg

What is the resistance of each filament?


twobirdsonwire.jpg

Will Either Bird be Shocked?

(No cheating! Here are the ANSWERS when you are done)
 

charlie b

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Staff member
Location
Lockport, IL
Occupation
Retired Electrical Engineer
Re: seris or parrellell

Originally posted by southernboys: In every diagram of series circuits it shows one power source in a continuous path. Now in parallel there is more than one power source.
Most of the diagrams I have seen show one power source and one load in, as you say, a continuous path. For most of the circuits we deal with have, as Bob has said, there is one source, the loads are in parallel with each other, and the set of loads (considered as a group) is in series with the source. In this situation, any given electron (i.e., one ?chunk? of the overall current) that leaves the source can go through any one of the separate loads. A different electron will leave the same source and go through one of the other loads. After they have done so, they join up and flow together back to the source. The fact that some current can go through one load and other current goes through another load, coupled with the fact that they join up at the other side to go back to the source, is what makes them ?parallel loads.?
 

charlie b

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Location
Lockport, IL
Occupation
Retired Electrical Engineer
Re: seris or parrellell

Originally posted by celtic: What is the resistance of each filament? Will Either Bird be Shocked?
That link did not lead me to the answers :confused: , so here are mine: R1 is 144 ohms, R2 is 192 ohms, and (assuming you have wire of zero resistance) only the bird on the left will be shocked.
 

hardworkingstiff

Senior Member
Location
Wilmington, NC
Re: seris or parrellell

southernboy

The cable (romex) is pulled as in a series circuit, from one outlet to another. The receptacles are actually wired in parallel. You see, in a series circuit the amps will flow through all the loads in the circuit at the same time and will be the same amps in all the loads too.

In a house, if you plug a load into a receptacle, only that receptacle will carry a this load. None of the other receptacles carry that load. The hot and the neutral are present at each receptacle independent of loads on other receptacles.

What may be confusing is that you connect the wires at the 1st receptacle that feed the 2nd that feed the 3rd (and so on). Putting both sets of wires on the receptacle is just a time and material savings over wire nutting the hots together and pig tailing to the receptacle (same for the neutral).

Now a switch is wired in series with the light. The neutral feeds past the switch, and the light will not get power unless the switch allows it to flow to the light.

Good luck,
HWS
 

iwire

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Massachusetts
Re: seris or parrellell

Originally posted by hardworkingstiff:
The cable (romex) is pulled as in a series circuit,
HWS I would say that adds confusion to someone learning. (I know you got it down :) )

The cable is not a series circuit, the routing of the cable is irrelevant. It may be daisy chained, T-Taped or run out in radials from a central box, none of that determines if it is a series or parallel circuit.

The connections at the devices are either parallel (loads) or series (controls).
 

hardworkingstiff

Senior Member
Location
Wilmington, NC
Re: seris or parrellell

iwire,

You of course are exactly correct. I thought that the way the cable was pulled was the source of the confusion. Maybe I just muddied the waters a little more. :confused:
 

southernboys

Senior Member
Re: seris or parrellell

guys just want to say thanks for helping a young cat thats trying hard to lean. Jwire youre last statement just made so sense and is exactly what I need to make it make sense. I have always thought it was how I ran the wires but now I see how it actually is. Also thanks for the great threads
 

charlie b

Moderator
Staff member
Location
Lockport, IL
Occupation
Retired Electrical Engineer
Re: seris or parrellell

What's wrong is that we don't always put a separate ground rod at each and every receptacle outlet. :D
 

bphgravity

Senior Member
Location
Florida
Re: seris or parrellell

1. There is no overcurrent protection.
2. I have never seen a 15 ampere / 120 volt dryer (other than gas).
3. There is no egc to the receptacle.
4. A grounding electrode would not clear a ground-fault.
5. It also appears that the receptacle is more than 6' from the appliance being served.

Other than that, it looks preety good. ;)
 

milwaukeesteve

Senior Member
Location
Milwaukee, WI
Re: seris or parrellell

Most everything in your home is ran in parallel. Kerchoff's voltage law states (paraphrasing) that all voltages in a parallel circuit remain constant. Thus we end up with all locations in your house having 120V.
However, all of the LOADS in your house are in parallel. The controlling devices for these loads are run in series. The switch for the bedroom light is run in series with the light, but the light is still in parallel with the rest of the house.
 
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